The Power of DeJuan Blair

2009-03-12T15:29:03-04:00

2009-03-12T01:30:17-04:00

2009-03-12T15:29:03-04:00

crash33

Annapolis 56011

31 I am shocked to see some people on the internet can't simply agree that he is a great player. Real fans have no problem admitting someone from another team or some other team is good. Its the loser boys that have nothing else to say besides "he sucks" or "he's dirty." Blair is one of the best players in the country. The above article proves that. 4660596

2009-03-12T11:32:53-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/464/186/thumb/t1_edwards.jpg 8 NC

g-vegas

Greenville 464626

19 let's see how blair performs in the big dance...against the weak big east those rebounds are easy to come by, the ACC should shut him down... 4656180

2009-03-12T14:05:48-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/735/991/thumb/blair.bmp 2 PA

mwm11

Coraopolis 736631

let's see how blair performs in the big dance...against the weak big east those rebounds are easy to come by, the ACC should shut him down...

30 This is one of the more comical things we'll ever hear. hansborough would get eaten up by Blair and check back to the game Blair had against the Dookies 11 games into his freshmen year. I think it was 15pts and 20rebs. 4659095

2009-03-12T11:54:37-04:00

als152

Pittsburgh 736684

29 Well we will have to see how Matthews and McNeal are shooting in this game. But the game will be a shootout for sure high 70s and could go into the 90s And don't overlook PC, they really need another solid win to solidfy an at-large bid and they will certainly look get some revenge with the 'Ville after they handled PC in their first match-up 4656692

2009-03-12T11:53:34-04:00

128

ajbrown2005

Exton 94251

28 dude is an absolute animal and I love the physical play of the entire big east. pitts doesnt play dirty basketball they play big east basketball. gtown, uconn, pitt, cuse. they all bang and its great to watch. but blair is more likely to have a career in the nfl as a tight end just like gates and tony gonzalez than in the nba. 4656624

2009-03-12T11:53:22-04:00

Theburghfan1

La Vergne 736649

27 G-vegas, are you serious or on drugs. Boy do I miss living in the burgh. First of all, living near Nashville, all I see are the weak SEC games, turn the local channel and there is the ACC and usually on is UNC or Duke, which neither has faced the kind of "DEFENSE" that is routinely displayed by the Big East. Marquette would blow through the ACC. Depaul would probably be a 3 or 4 in the ACC. Thank goodness for Direct TV. By the way, ESPN is featuring the Big East this week. Go figure. Defense is going to win games and Pitt knows how to shut down offenses. Hansboro would get eatin alive by Blair. Nobody on UNC or Dule can stop Sam Young. Let's not forget who's leading the nation in assist/turnover ratio. That would be another Pitt player, Fields. And shouts out to the Lady Panthers. I have season tickets to Titan games and I wear black and gold every home game. This year will even be more special. Steeler Nation alive and well. 4656608

2009-03-12T11:50:51-04:00

FrankyUconn

Wethersfield 736654

26 Marquette really took a big hit with Dominique James being out, and I don't think they've found the right formula yet...I think Villanova has played great basketball all year and will prevail. I have them beating Louisville to get to the final. Dumb? 4656542

2009-03-12T11:47:37-04:00

als152

Pittsburgh 736684

25 Marq could go on a run with some confidence from the previous game (though it was lowly RU) 'Nova is gonna need a big game from the Corey's and Reynolds if they wanna advance to the semi's 4656485

2009-03-12T11:45:55-04:00

als152

Pittsburgh 736684

24 FrankyUConn...I completely agree with you and salinacj, the only "dirty" play from Blair this year would been when Thabeet took him down midcourt in game 2 (which was a good hard foul) And then Blair lock his legs around Thabeet. But it's called playing emotionally, not dirty. His physical style like FrankyUConn said is tough, hard-nosed play, not dirty 4656409

2009-03-12T11:44:16-04:00

FrankyUconn

Wethersfield 736654

23 What do you guys think about the Marquette VS> Villanova game? 4656400

2009-03-12T11:42:00-04:00

als152

Pittsburgh 736684

22 Blair should stick around, he's undersized with not much range, so another year developing a mind-range game couldn't hurt (hopefully). He reminds me a lot of Glen "Big Baby" Davis who has developed the mid-range game and become a pretty good NBA player. And the ACC shutting him down? I didn't even know they knew what defense or rebounding was down there. 4656374

<div class="photo_container image_center" style="width: 615px;"> <div class="photo_container image_center" style="width: 615px;"> <div class="photo"><img title="DeJuan Blair" src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/2009_images/blair-wide.jpg" alt="DeJuan Blair" width="615" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">Pittsburgh sophomore DeJuan Blair leads the nation in offensive rebounding with 5.6 per game.<br /></div> </div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">Getty Images<br /></div> </div> <p>NEW YORK -- When <strong>DeJuan Blair</strong> daydreams about hitting a last-second shot to win a national title for Pittsburgh, he envisions it happening in a way that only he could. "I can see it on <em>SportsCenter</em>," Blair says. "<strong>Levance" -- Fields</strong>, the point guard who's hit so many clutch shots in Panthers lore -- "finally misses one, and I'm right there, under the hoop, getting the offensive board and putting it back up. <em>That</em> would be off the hook."</p> <p>As strange as it might seem for a player to dream about such a non-glamorous task as <em>offensive rebounding</em>, this scenario could very well play out in Detroit. Pitt, which opens play in the Big East tournament on Thursday, should be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament in large part because the 6-foot-7, 265-pound Blair has been the most dominant major-conference offensive rebounder of not just this season, but the past <em>eight seasons</em>. And we only say eight because that's how far back <a href="http://www.draftexpress.com/stats.php?sort=19&q=&league=NCAA&year=2008%2F09&per=per40pace&min=20&stage=all&conference=0&pos=all&qual=all" target="_blank">DraftExpress</a>' pace-adjusted, per-40-minutes offensive rebounding stats go. The chart below -- listing the top 10 offensive rebounders since 2001-02 (with a minimum of 20 minutes played/game) -- shows just how much separation there is between Blair and the rest of the college hoops universe:</p> <pre>Rk. Player Team Yr. OR/40 (Pace Adj.) 1. DeJuan Blair Pitt 08-09 8.4 2. K. Gransberry USF 06-07 6.6 3. Chris Massie Memphis 01-02 6.6 4. Joey Dorsey Memphis 06-07 6.5 5. Ivan Kartelo Purdue 03-04 6.3 6. DeJuan Blair Pitt 07-08 6.1 6. James Thomas Texas 02-03 6.1 8. Justin Davis Stanford 02-03 5.8 9. Justin Davis Stanford 03-04 5.8 10. Kevin Young Missouri 05-06 5.7 10. P.J. Tucker Texas 03-04 5.7</pre> <p>No player in '08-09 is even in the vicinity of Blair in rebounds/40 minutes (once again, adjusted for pace):</p> <pre>Rk. Player Team OR/40 (Pace Adj.) 1. DeJuan Blair Pitt 8.4 2. Murphy Holloway Ole Miss 5.4 3. Jon Brockman Wash. 5.3 4. JaMychal Green Alabama 5.3 5. Chinemelu Elonu Texas A&M 5.1</pre> <p>If we switch over to the Basketball Prospectus and kenpom.com-favored stat of Offensive Rebounding percentage, we see that Blair is grabbing a superhuman 24.2 percent of Pitt misses, also tops in the nation. (BP recently made the mind-boggling observation that Blair is also <a href="http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=580">outrebounding seven D-I <em>teams</em></a> on the offensive glass.)</p> <pre>Rk. Player Team OR% 1. DeJuan Blair Pitt 24.2 2. Tracy Smith NC State 17.0 3. Jon Brockman Wash. 16.6 4. JaMychal Green Alabama 15.8 5. Murphy Holloway Ole Miss 15.3</pre> <p>No more numbers are necessary to make the point: Blair kills on the offensive glass, so much so that he's the most important offensive player in the country this year, and one of the biggest statistical outliers of the decade. What the numbers cannot reveal, though, is how exactly Blair does what he does. What are the secrets of Pitt's perpetually grinning, bicep-band-wearing warrior? I talked to a few trusted sources -- inside and outside the Pitt program -- to get the answers.</p> <p><strong>1. It's the "Suction Cups"</strong></p> <div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://img.fannation.com/upload/si_blog_post_images/28142/blair-rebound.jpg" alt="Blair-rebound" width="300" height="410" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">Pitt plays West Virginia in the Big East tourney Thursday.<br />Getty Images</div> </div> <p>The advantages Blair gains with his wingspan (which is 7-2) and his posterior (which is quite large) have been well-chronicled, but his hands may be what truly set him apart. Think about it: How many times, if ever, have you seen a board in Blair's orbit bounce off of his hands rather than be reeled in?</p> <p>UConn assistant <strong>George</strong> <strong>Blaney</strong>'s scouting report on Blair said that "he has the best pair of hands I've seen in 40 years of coaching." Fellow Huskies assistant <strong>Patrick Sellers</strong>, who has mentored Blair's rival, Hasheem Thabeet, said that Blair reminds him of <strong>Zach Randolph</strong>, of whom Knicks announcer <strong>Mike Breen</strong> used to say, "he has magnet hands." Blair, Sellers said, "has suction-cup hands."</p> <p>The strength of Blair's suction cups isn't just something to be seen. It can also be heard. Fields told me that "the noise of DeJuan grabbing a rebound is crazy." Blair has even wowed himself with this, saying, "When I pull it in sometimes, it sounds like the ball pops."</p> <p><strong>2. Anticipating Position</strong></p> <p>Ever notice how Blair <em>always</em> seems to be in perfect weakside position to pull down Pitt misses? This is no fluke. Panthers assistant coach <strong>Tom Herrion</strong> said that a vastly underrated reason for Blair's success is the quality of Pitt's first-shot offense. "Because we execute so well," Herrion said, "DeJuan has an understanding of where shots are going to show, especially when he's not taking them, and that lets him get in good position and work the right angles." So, for example, when a play is being run for <strong>Sam Young</strong> to get a wide-open three from the right corner, Blair has usually moved to the left block before the defense even knows what's happening.</p> <p><strong>3. Staying Home</strong></p> <p>Blair, perhaps more than any other marquee big man, <em>stays</em> in and around the lane. Whereas UConn's <strong>Hasheem Thabeet</strong> and North Carolina's <strong>Tyler Hansbrough</strong> can frequently be found setting bruising screens on the perimeter and slipping free to the basket, Blair's job mostly calls for him to set an early ball screen (for Fields) while he's running down the floor, and then camp out in the paint after that. Pitt then attempts to free Blair up for post touches by setting across-the-lane screens, off of which he can receive the ball at close range to the basket, lower his shoulder, and drop it in for two points. Rarely does he roam outside the lane to receive passes, and this keeps him in prime position to clean up others' misses.</p> <p><strong>4. Acting "like the basketball is money"</strong></p> <p>A great offensive rebounder must <em>want</em> the ball more than anyone else on the floor, and as Notre Dame assistant <strong>Sean Kearney</strong> says of Blair, "When he sees a shot go off the rim, it's almost like a shark smelling blood in the water."</p> <p>It's a desire that must be unending as well. Sellers put it this way: "Just to get the six or seven [offensive rebounds] Blair gets to lead the country, he has to go to the glass 40 or 50 times a game. So it's not just the hands or the body, it's the heart; he has that will to say, 'I'm going to keep going and going.'"</p> <p>Take Pitt's first win over UConn, on Feb. 16 in Hartford, as an example: Pitt took 65 field-goal attempts. Ten were makes by Blair. He likely chased after 50 misses. Plenty of them bounced so far out of his reach that they were impossible to corral. Ten fell into the hands of his teammates. Six were reeled in by Blair. Six is a <em>huge</em> number of offensive boards per game, enough to lead the country. And in order to get those he only succeeded at a 12 percent rate on that night.</p> <p>I asked Blair how he manages to be so relentless, when the task at hand can often seem so futile. And this is what he said: "I love money, so I act like the basketball is money when I'm rebounding. I pretend that every rebound is a million dollars. And I'm going to go out and get my millions."</p>

Luke Winn

New York 4563 56721 <div class="photo_container image_center" style="width: 615px;"> <div class="photo_container image_center" style="width: 615px;"> <div class="photo"><img title="DeJuan Blair" src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/2009_images/blair-wide.jpg" alt="DeJuan Blair" width="615" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">Pittsburgh sophomore DeJuan Blair leads the nation in offensive rebounding with 5.6 per game.<br /></div> </div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">Getty Images<br /></div> </div> <p>NEW YORK -- When <strong>DeJuan Blair</strong> daydreams about hitting a last-second shot to win a national title for Pittsburgh, he envisions it happening in a way that only he could. "I can see it on <em>SportsCenter</em>," Blair says. "<strong>Levance" -- Fields</strong>, the point guard who's hit so many clutch shots in Panthers lore -- "finally misses one, and I'm right there, under the hoop, getting the offensive board and putting it back up. <em>That</em> would be off the hook."</p> <p>As strange as it might seem for a player to dream about such a non-glamorous task as <em>offensive rebounding</em>, this scenario could very well play out in Detroit. Pitt, which opens play in the Big East tournament on Thursday, should be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament in large part because the 6-foot-7, 265-pound Blair has been the most dominant major-conference offensive rebounder of not just this season, but the past <em>eight seasons</em>. And we only say eight because that's how far back <a href="http://www.draftexpress.com/stats.php?sort=19&q=&league=NCAA&year=2008%2F09&per=per40pace&min=20&stage=all&conference=0&pos=all&qual=all" target="_blank">DraftExpress</a>' pace-adjusted, per-40-minutes offensive rebounding stats go. The chart below -- listing the top 10 offensive rebounders since 2001-02 (with a minimum of 20 minutes played/game) -- shows just how much separation there is between Blair and the rest of the college hoops universe:</p> <pre>Rk. Player Team Yr. OR/40 (Pace Adj.) 1. DeJuan Blair Pitt 08-09 8.4 2. K. Gransberry USF 06-07 6.6 3. Chris Massie Memphis 01-02 6.6 4. Joey Dorsey Memphis 06-07 6.5 5. Ivan Kartelo Purdue 03-04 6.3 6. DeJuan Blair Pitt 07-08 6.1 6. James Thomas Texas 02-03 6.1 8. Justin Davis Stanford 02-03 5.8 9. Justin Davis Stanford 03-04 5.8 10. Kevin Young Missouri 05-06 5.7 10. P.J. Tucker Texas 03-04 5.7</pre> <p>No player in '08-09 is even in the vicinity of Blair in rebounds/40 minutes (once again, adjusted for pace):</p> <pre>Rk. Player Team OR/40 (Pace Adj.) 1. DeJuan Blair Pitt 8.4 2. Murphy Holloway Ole Miss 5.4 3. Jon Brockman Wash. 5.3 4. JaMychal Green Alabama 5.3 5. Chinemelu Elonu Texas A&M 5.1</pre>